PROVIDENCE Resources said today the amount of oil that can be recovered from a huge oil field off the Cork coast is much greater than was previously thought.

In a statement this morning, the company said a two new technical studies found that about 280m barrels could be recovered from the Barryroe field, far greater than had been previously estimated. In March Providence said Barryroe, which is close to the Kinsale Gas Field, could have over 1bn barrels on site. Previous estimates had claimed about 16pc of that could be brought on shore but that has now been revised up.

Providence technical director John O’Sullivan said: “These reservoir and dynamic modelling studies have identified significant productive potential, which is consistent with the test and other data that we have previously announced.

“These results will now be factored into our ongoing field pre-development work where we have kicked off a key engineering study to identify and select the optimum development concept. As part of this study, we will obviously consult and solicit feedback from both regulatory and local stakeholders on an ongoing basis,” he added.